Law Weblog

Hunting Act rides again

Sunday 2 December 2007 at 11:37 am | In News | Post Comment

29 November 2007
The House of Lords Judicial Committee dismissed the case brought by the Countryside Alliance which challenged to the lawfulness of the Hunting Act.

The Countryside Alliance that brought the action claimed the Act violated the fundamental human rights of thousands of people whose livelihood and way of life. Between 6,000 and 8,000 were expected eventually to lose their jobs, and many would also lose the homes that went with the jobs. Others would lose businesses and the commercial “goodwill” attached to them.

In the ruling, Lord Bingham said the law had been drawn up and passed in line with the constitution and should not be undone by an interest group. “The democratic process is liable to be subverted if, on a question of moral and political judgment, opponents of the act achieve through the courts what they could not achieve in Parliament.”

In the leading opinion given by the senior Law Lord, Lord Bingham said, that the Hunting Act 2004 must “be taken to reflect the conscience of a majority of the nation. He also said, “ … the present case seems to me pre-eminently one in which respect should be shown to what the House of Commons decided.”
The decision was a unanimous ruling by five Law Lords.

It is the second time an appeal against the Act has been rejected. (The previous attempt failed to satisfy the Lords that the ban was illegal because the Act had been passed using the Parliament Act without the consent of the House of Lords).

The Times article here